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Method and system for a multi-rate gigabit media independent interfaceRelated Patent Categories: Multiplex Communications, Communication Techniques For Information Carried In Plural Channels, Adaptive, Assignment Of Variable Bandwidth Or Time Period For Transmission Or ReceptionMethod and system for a multi-rate gigabit media independent interface description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080049788, Method and system for a multi-rate gigabit media independent interface. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
PRIORITY CLAIM [0001] This application claim priority to U.S. provisional patent application entitled Method And System For A Multi-rate Gigabit Media Independent Interface filed on Aug. 23, 2006 and assigned Ser. No. 60/839,986. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The invention relates to communication systems and in particular to a method and apparatus for interfacing different transmit rate communication systems. OVERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION [0003] With the accelerating deployment of Gigabit Ethernet there is a great need for data center equipment supporting a much faster rate in order to handle the aggregation of multiple gigabit links. In response, the IEEE 802.3 working group developed 10 gigabit (10 G) Ethernet. At first, only fiber optic media was specified to support 10 G Ethernet. Soon afterward a very short reach copper media standard was developed, known as 10GBASE-CX4. In June 2006 the 10 GBASE-T standard (Clause 55) was approved by IEEE and specifies 10 G Ethernet over unshielded twisted pair (UTP) which is also used with the highly successful 10 megabit (10BASE-T), 100 megabit (100BASE-TX) and gigabit (1000BASE-T) Ethernet copper standards. [0004] The arrival of 10 GBASE-T brings a new capability to 10 G Ethernet equipment. That is the capability of operating with link partners of speeds from 10 megabit per second (Mbps) to 10 gigabit per second (Gpbs). However, there is no IEEE defined multi-rate interface between the media access controller (MAC) and the physical layer device (PHY). [0005] 802.3 is the IEEE standard for Ethernet networking. 802.3 clauses 44 through 55 define the set of physical coding sub-layers (PCS), physical media attachments (PMA) and physical media dependants (PMD) for operation at 10 gigabit per second. Clause 46 defines the 10-gigabit media independent interface (XGMII) that serves as the universal interface between a 10 G media access controller (MAC) and the PCS regardless of the choice of media. XGMII is a 4 byte parallel interface operating at 312.5 MHz. Clause 47 defines the XGMII extension sub-layer (XGXS) and it's interface, the 10-gigabit attachment unit interface (XAUI). XAUI allows the XGMII to be extended across longer distances by serializing the 4 bytes into four serial lanes operating at 3.125 Gbps. Another extension of XGMII known as 10 Gigabit small form factor interface (XFI) is a single lane 10.3 Gbps serial interface using the PCS define in Clause 48 for 10 GBASE-R. [0006] 802.3 also defines sets of PCS, PMA, and PMD for copper and fiber optic media at rates of 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, and 1 Gbps each with a corresponding defined interface between the MAC and PCS. For 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps this is the media independent interface (MII) and for a 1 Gbps system it is the gigabit media independent interface (GMII). [0007] However, 802.3 does not define a multi-rate media independent interface. For systems supporting 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps, known as 10/100/1000, various solutions were developed within the industry as defacto standards. One of these solutions was SGMII in which GMII is processed by the PCS defined in 802.3 Clause 36 for 1000BASE-X. The GMII is encoded using 8B10B coding and serialized for transmission at 1.25 Gbps. [0008] FIGS. 1A-1E illustrate a block diagrams of prior art systems. As shown in FIGS. 1A-1E, various prior art embodiments as discussed herein have been proposed to interface between the MAC and the PHY, but these system suffer from numerous drawbacks. For example, there is currently no IEEE defined standard nor a defacto standard for a multi-rate media dependent interface supporting 10 Gbps rates. There is a need for a multi-rate MII supporting 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps operation. In a multi-port switch application there is an additional need for the multi-rate MII to use as few signals as possible in order to reduce the pin count of the MAC or switch fabric IC. [0009] Several solutions have been proposed, but these proposed solutions do not adequately address the drawbacks of the prior art. For example, the Serial-GMII Specification: ENG-46158 is an industry de-facto standard written and maintained by Cisco Systems. The Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface (SGMII) is designed to convey network data and port speed between a 10/100/1000 PHY and a MAC. SGMII is specified to operate in both half and full duplex and at all port speeds. However SGMII does not support 10 gigabit operation, and does not support the XGMII interface defined for 10 G Ethernet. Other drawbacks exist with various other prior art systems. SUMMARY [0010] To overcome the drawbacks of the prior art and to provide additional advantages, a universal interface is disclosed. In one embodiment, a rate adaptive interface is provided which is configured to interface a MAC device with a PHY device. In such an embodiment, the interface comprises a rate adaptation module in communication with a MAC device, the rate adaptation module configured to receive data at a rate selected from 10 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s, and 1 Gb/s and process the data to a rate of 1 Gb/s, which is in turn output at a rate of 1 Gb/s. The interface also comprises an encapsulation/recovery module configured to receive the data at a rate of 1 Gb/s from the rate adaptation module and then encapsulate the data at a rate of 1 Gb/s to generated data at a rate of 10 Gb/s. A multiplexer is configured to receive the data at a rate of 10 Gb/s from the encapsulation/recovery module or to received data from a MAC device at a rate of 10 Gb/s and selectively output data at a rate of 10 Gb/s responsive to a mode selection control signal. The mode selection module is configured to control the multiplexer based on control input from a higher layer device. An ordered set generation and detection module is also part of this embodiment and is in communication with the multiplexer and the mode selection module. The ordered set generation and detection module is configured to detect ordered sets which announce a mode change such that the ordered set generation and detection module is in communication with the mode selection module. [0011] In one embodiment, the encapsulation/recovery module is further configured to recover encapsulated data thereby changing the data rate from a 10 G data rate to a 1 G data rate. In one configuration, the encapsulation/recovery module is further configured with an input to receive data at a rate of 10 Gb/s and perform recovery thereon to output the data at a rate of 1 Gb/s. It is also contemplated that the system of claim 1, wherein the mode selection module adjusts the data rate of operation between 10 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s, or 1 Gb/s. [0012] Also disclosed herein is a rate adaptive interface for use in a network device. In this configuration the interface comprises a MAC device configured to output data from a first port at a variable first rate and from a second port at a second rate. A rate adaptation module is part of this embodiment and configured to receive data from the MAC at the variable first rate and convert the data at the variable first rate to data at the second rate. An encapsulation module configured to receive data at the second rate from the rate adaptation module and convert the data at the second rate to data at a third rate. From there, a switch is configured to interface with the encapsulation module and the MAC device to receive data at a rate of 10 Gb/s from either the encapsulation module or from the second port of the MAC device and then output the data at a rate of 10 Gb/s. The switch may be controlled by a mode selection control signal. In this embodiment, a mode selection module is configured to provide the mode selection control signal to the switch to thereby control operation of the switch. [0013] It is further contemplated that the system further comprise an extension sublayer configured to receive data at a rate of 10 Gb/s from the switch, such that the extension sublayer extends the distance which the data at a rate of 10 Gb/s may be transmitted. In addition, the system may further comprise an ordered set generation and detection module configured interface with the switch to detect ordered sets which determine a mode change, such that the ordered set generation and detection module is in communication with the mode selection module. The encapsulation/recovery module may be further configured to recover encapsulated data thereby changing the data rate from a 10 G data rate to a 1 G data rate. In one embodiment, the data at the variable first rate comprises data at a rate of 10 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s, or 1 Gb/s, and data at the second rate comprises data at a rate of 1 Gb/s and data at the third rate comprises data at a rate of 10 Gb/s. In addition, the data at the third rate may have a format that is different than the data at the second rate. This system may further comprise a PHY Device configured to receive data at a rate of 10 Gb/s from the switch. In one embodiment, the first port and the second port comprise input/output ports and the switch is configured to receive and transmit data to either of the second port of the MAC device or the encapsulation module. [0014] Also disclosed herein is a method for interfacing a multirate MAC device with a PHY device in a network communication device. In this example embodiment, this the method comprises outputting unprocessed data from the multirate MAC device at a variable rate to a rate adaptation module or at a first fixed rate to a multiplexer. The method processes the data at the rate adaptation module to up-convert the data at a variable rate to data at a second fixed rate. Then, the method processes the data at the second fixed rate with an encapsulation module to generate processed data at the first fixed rate. In this embodiment, the method receives, at a multiplexer, the unprocessed data from the MAC device at the first fixed rate or the processed data at the first fixed rate, and also receives, at the multiplexer, a mode selection signal. Responsive to the mode selection signal, the operation outputs from the multiplexer the unprocessed data at the first rate or the processed data at the first rate. In one variation, the variable rate consists of 10 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s and 1 Gb/s. It is contemplated that the first fixed rate comprises 10 Gb/s and the second fixed rate comprises 1 Gb/s. In addition, processing the data at the second fixed rate with an encapsulation module further comprise altering the format of the data. This method may further comprise outputting the data from the multiplexer to an extension sublayer, a PHY device, or a second multiplexer. In this embodiment, up-sampling may comprise padding or repeating data received at the variable rate to create data at a second fixed rate. This method may also comprise establishing a mode of operation and receiving data at the first fixed rate at the multiplexer from any of a PHY device, an extension sublayer, or a second multiplexer. Then, responsive to the mode of operation, the method outputs the data at the first fixed rate to either the MAC device or to a recovery unit. In addition, responsive to the outputting the data at the first fixed rate to a recovery unit, the method converts the data at the first fixed rate to the second fixed rate and converts the data at the second fixed rate to data at a third fixed rate, such that the data at the third fixed rate is a rate selected from a group of variable [0015] Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0016] The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the figures, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views. [0017] FIG. 1A-1E is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of prior art systems. [0018] FIG. 1F is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of an UGMII system as disclosed herein. [0019] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example embodiment of a UGMII system as disclosed herein connected to an optional extension sublayer module. Continue reading about Method and system for a multi-rate gigabit media independent interface... 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